Three Republican congressmen who parted with President Bush by meeting with Syrian leaders said Wednesday it is important to maintain a dialogue with a country the White House says sponsors terrorism. "I don't care what the administration says on this. You've got to do what you think is in the best interest of your country," said Rep. Frank Wolf (news, bio, voting record), R-Va. "I want us to be successful in Iraq. I want us to clamp down on Hezbollah."Washington accuses Syria of backing Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups it deems terrorist organizations. The Bush administration also says Syria is contributing to the violence in Iraq by allowing Sunni insurgents to operate from its territory and is destabilizing Lebanon's government.Bush sharply criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., for leading a delegation to meet with Syria's president, Bashar Assad.... http://news.yahoo.com

Conflict surfaced today between Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee over the use of legislative language that connects the war in Iraq with the global fight against terrorism. However, the chairman of the Committee dismissed the dispute as a "distraction.""I'm saddened that some of our GOP colleagues have chosen to create this distraction," said Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee in a statement sent to RAW STORY. "GOP objections to our efforts to clarify legislative language represent the typical Republican leadership attempt to tie together the misadventure in Iraq and the overall war against terrorists. The Iraq War is separate and distinct from the war against terrorists, who have their genesis in Afghanistan and who attacked us on 9/11, and the American people understand this," he added....http://rawstory.com/news/2007/House_Democrats_Republicans_tussle_over_Iraqterror_0404.html

Conditions for detainees at the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay are deteriorating, with the majority held in solitary confinement, a report says. Amnesty International said the often harsh and inhumane conditions at the camp were "pushing people to the edge". It called for the facility to be closed and for plans for "unfair" military commission trials to be abandoned. Many of the 385 inmates have been held for five years or more, unable to mount a legal challenge to their detention. "While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens... that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights," the report said. "Statements by the Bush administration that these men are 'enemy combatants,' 'terrorists' or 'very bad people' do not justify the complete lack of due process rights," the group said....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6526589.stm

Banking executive Keith Gores was so devoted to his work that he always arrived ahead of time for meetings. "He taught me right away there's only one way to attend a meeting and that's five minutes early," said George Mort, Gores' colleague for 27 years at a downtown bank. "This was a guy that was very punctual." That's why colleagues and friends knew immediately that something was wrong when Gores failed to show up for a morning meeting on March 22. He had never missed a meeting in more than three decades of banking. Two weeks later, authorities are struggling to find leads in the case, and Gores' wife refuses to give up hope that her 56-year-old husband is alive. Sara Gores is convinced he may have become lost after suffering confusion or amnesia that developed after he slipped and struck his head....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953566/

A coalition airstrike destroyed a mud-brick home, killing nine people from four generations of an Afghan family during a clash between Western troops and militants, Afghan officials and relatives said Monday. It was the second report in two days of civilian deaths at the hands of Western forces. On Sunday, U.S. Marines fired on cars and pedestrians as they fled a suicide attack. Up to 10 Afghans died in that violence, and President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings. Both times, the U.S military blamed militants for putting innocent lives in danger. But Karzai has repeatedly pleaded for Western troops to show more restraint amid concern that civilian deaths shake domestic support for the foreign military involvement that the president needs to prop up his weak government _ increasingly under threat from a resurgent Taliban. In the latest incident, militants late Sunday fired on a U.S. base in Kapisa province, just north of Kabul, prompting the airstrike on Jabar village. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/05/ap/world/mainD8NM56EO0.shtml

The lawyer and parents of John Walker Lindh, the American-born Taliban soldier serving 20 years in prison after his capture in Afghanistan, called on President Bush on Wednesday to commute his sentence and set him free. The renewed call to shorten the sentence was based on the relatively light term Australian David Hicks received Saturday after pleading guilty to supporting terrorism. Hicks, who had been imprisoned for five years at Guantanamo Bay and acknowledged aiding al-Qaida during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, was given a nine-month sentence. "In the atmosphere of the time, the best John could get was a plea bargain and a 20-year sentence," said Lindh's father, Frank Lindh. "We love our son very much. He was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan." John Walker Lindh, 26, a Marin County native, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953382/